If you’ve ever reached Sunday afternoon and suddenly felt your brain shift into Monday mode, you know the feeling.
You might have been enjoying your weekend just fine. Then you remember the emails waiting for you, the appointments on the calendar, the lunches that need to be packed, the laundry that isn’t finished, or the long list of things you meant to accomplish over the weekend.
And suddenly, Sunday doesn’t feel much like a day off anymore.
There’s a name for this experience: the Sunday Scaries.
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What Are the Sunday Scaries?
“Sunday Scaries” is an informal term for the stress, dread, or anxiety some people experience as they anticipate returning to work, school, responsibilities, and routines after the weekend.
In other words, nothing necessarily has to be going wrong on Sunday. Your brain has simply started thinking ahead to what Monday might require of you.
For adults with ADHD, that transition can come with some additional challenges. Monday may represent a return to schedules, time demands, task initiation, decisions, transitions, and dozens of things that need to be remembered and managed.
So it makes sense that Sunday can become a day devoted to trying to make Monday easier.
But what if preparing for Monday isn’t the only way to prepare for Monday?
Enter the “French Sunday”
I recently came across the idea of a “French Sunday” in Real Simple.
The concept is refreshingly simple: instead of treating Sunday primarily as a day for chores, errands, preparation, and productivity, intentionally leave room for rest, pleasure, connection, and slower activities.
Think:
- Sleeping in
- Reading for pleasure
- Sitting outside with coffee
- Having a leisurely lunch with friends or family
- Playing a game
- Listening to music
- Taking a walk
- Doing something simply because you enjoy it
The goal is to give yourself permission to stop treating every available hour as an opportunity to become more prepared, organized, caught up, or productive.
When “Getting Ready for Monday” Takes Over Sunday
There’s nothing wrong with doing laundry on Sunday or taking 20 minutes to look at your calendar. Sometimes those things genuinely reduce stress.
The problem comes when Sunday turns into an enormous weekly reset project.
We tell ourselves that if we can just get everything done, Monday will be easier.
So we clean the kitchen. Then we notice the refrigerator needs cleaning. We start laundry. We remember we should order groceries. While doing that, we decide we should meal plan. Then we check the calendar and realize there are three things we forgot to schedule.
Suddenly, our “day off” has become a race to become adequately prepared for the next five days.
And there will almost always be something else we could do.
That’s why a French Sunday offers an interesting experiment: What happens if we deliberately stop before everything is finished?
You Don’t Need an Entire French Sunday
An all-day version may not be realistic for you.
Maybe there really are things that need to happen before Monday morning. Maybe Sunday is the only day you can grocery shop, wash clothes, or prepare for your kids’ week.
That doesn’t mean the idea is useless.
Try a French Morning: Drink your coffee outside. Leave your phone inside. Read a book. Make pancakes. Go somewhere you enjoy.
Or try a French Evening: Decide that after 6 p.m., preparation is finished. Put on music. Order dinner. Play a game. Watch something funny. Call someone you like talking to.
Allow yourself to experiment with protecting a small part of your weekend from becoming preparation for your workweek.
Ask a Different Question
Sunday productivity often starts with a question like: “What do I need to get done today so this week will be easier?”
That can be a useful question.
Try adding: “What would feel restorative or enjoyable today?”
Maybe the answer is sitting outside for 20 minutes; or reading a mystery novel instead of the book you think you should be reading. Maybe it’s lunch with a friend, a nap, a favorite playlist, a walk, a movie, or doing absolutely nothing for a little while.
There doesn’t have to be a productivity benefit attached.
Rest Doesn’t Have to Be Earned by Finishing Everything
This may be one of the hardest parts of the experiment.
If you’re accustomed to measuring whether you’ve “done enough,” stopping while there are still unfinished tasks can feel uncomfortable. There will probably always be another load of laundry, email to answer, meal to plan, room to straighten, or task you could complete.
A French Sunday offers a different boundary: some things can remain unfinished while I enjoy part of my day.
You can prepare for Monday and protect some of Sunday.
You can do the necessary things and decide that not everything is necessary today.
And you can experiment with the possibility that rest and enjoyment are not rewards you receive after finally completing every task.
Sometimes the most ADHD-friendly thing you can do to prepare for the week ahead is surprisingly simple: Take a little time to enjoy the day you’re actually in.
